Artist Statements - a few questions

Sharon Harper

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Nov 4, 2004, 10:20:51 PM11/4/04

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If all else fails go to the best right? How do you guys come up with your
artist statements? I've had this urge for months now to submit a quilt to
Houston's "I Love Mama" competition for next year. I'm half way through
making the top (I had it designed about 6 months ago) and have hit a snag
with some of my blocks so thought I'd fill in the form instead.

I took the a/s as being why we made the quilt, what brought us to this
point - am I right? Being limited to 75 words is a pain - I need about 120.
I'm actually making the quilt to honour my maternal grandmother. She is the
inspiration behind it.

What are your thoughts? Thanking y'all kindly

--
Sharon from Melbourne Australia
Queen of Down Under
http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/craft.html
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shazrules/my_photos
>>>>>>>**********************<<<<<<<

Jessamy

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Nov 5, 2004, 3:48:44 AM11/5/04

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Just tell them you are making it in honour of your grandmother.. you will
need to "pretty it up" but I suspect that they will love the sentimental
idea behind the quilt.

my only tip would be to write it out a few times to get the "right" version
( I didn't for my EQC entry and had to reprint the form 3 times...LOL)
--
Jessamy
In The Netherlands
http://www.geocities.com/jess_ayad/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quilt_mystery/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sharon Harper

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Nov 5, 2004, 5:51:06 AM11/5/04

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Thanks Jess, that's what I'm doing at the mo, but how do you cut down what
you really need to say to 75 words, it's so hard because she's been such a
big influence on my life. Again the quilting fairies are at work. Just got
this feeling that even if it's not accepted for Houston I *need* to finish
it. Nanna hasn't been well lately - she has quite a large tumour on her
right kidney (3cm x 4cm x 4cm) although docs say it is benign. She also has
fairly strong pain lower down and is due for a bladder ultrasound on
wednesday.

--
Sharon from Melbourne Australia
Queen of Down Under
http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/craft.html
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shazrules/my_photos
>>>>>>>**********************<<<<<<<

"Jessamy" <j.ayad@-ANTISPAM-wanadoo.nl> wrote in message
news:418b3e6a$0$93733$1b2c...@news.wanadoo.nl...

Jessamy

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Nov 5, 2004, 7:27:08 AM11/5/04

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ah yes the hard part... well I shared the quilt's bio with some friends and
asked for comments.. it's amazing how well you thin when you are discussing
something like this

If you want just send you full story over and I'll weed it out a bit for
you - it's easier to edit someone else's work :-D

Now get thee to thy sewing machine so it gets ready in time for Nanna to see
the top...

and I will cross everything that all turns out to be manageable... mind you
those stones can be quite painful too and are relatively easy to deal with

--
Jessamy
In The Netherlands
http://www.geocities.com/jess_ayad/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quilt_mystery/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NightMist

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Nov 5, 2004, 9:37:12 AM11/5/04

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On Fri, 5 Nov 2004 14:20:51 +1100, "Sharon Harper"
<shar...@optusnet.com.au> wrote:

>If all else fails go to the best right? How do you guys come up with your
>artist statements? I've had this urge for months now to submit a quilt to
>Houston's "I Love Mama" competition for next year. I'm half way through
>making the top (I had it designed about 6 months ago) and have hit a snag
>with some of my blocks so thought I'd fill in the form instead.
>
>I took the a/s as being why we made the quilt, what brought us to this
>point - am I right? Being limited to 75 words is a pain - I need about 120.
>I'm actually making the quilt to honour my maternal grandmother. She is the
>inspiration behind it.
>
>What are your thoughts? Thanking y'all kindly

I don't know about quilt competitions, I've never entered one.
Fine art (painting, sculpture etc) I know a bit about, and it is easy
to find info on that.
The best thing to do is write out a generic statement and then tailor
it to the competition. If you plan on entering more competitions you
might want to consider that. Beware writing a statement talking about
just one piece, unless that is par for the course in this competition.
I found other's statements for that show useing google and the string

"artist statement" "quilt show" Houston

Here is a decent description with a link to a statement by
watercolorist Nita Leland:

http://www.nitaleland.com/articles/statement.htm

Sub in quilting for painting and you get the idea.

Here are some more pages about artist's statements:

http://www.artistsfoundation.org/html/afa/freeinfo/statement.html
http://www.mollygordon.com/resources/marketingresources/artstatemt/
(I went looking for a quilt specific one and this last article showed
up there as
http://www.contemporaryquiltart.com/writingTheArtistsStatement.htm )
http://www.artbusiness.com/artstate.html

HTH

NightMist

--
"It's such a gamble when you get a face"
- Richard Hell